December Daily Day 21

OK so a few things - Natalie ate her first solids yesterday, just a little banana mixed in with mama's milk! She wasn't too sure about it, but did a few swallows. Also, she really got into her rolling over and every time I put her on her back she flipped immediately to her stomach! It was so fun to watch her in her cute little giraffe print cloth diaper!

For both sides, I used a combination of apps - Afterlight to edit them a bit, then PicFrame to drop them into frames and add the little captions. I like having the option to do this, but I took most of my time on doing all that so by the time I got to work on the page spread it was LATE! I was so tired today!! For this left side, I added the stamp along the top, embossed in gold glitter Zing and used that thin washi tape yet again to help make the star on the patterned paper stand out - I really need more thin washi tape!!

For the right side, I kept it real simple here too, and just tried to incorporate some of the same elements on both sides. The silent night card is from In A Creative Bubble by Geralyn Sy.

That's all - it has taken me a couple days to post these because Natalie has been awake A LOT lately. Not sure if it's a growth spurt or what!! Oh well, only 4 more layouts to do and my DD will be complete AND now that we're on the final stretch, I think I will get it done before the end of the year - WOW! That means I will have done 2 December Daily's this year haha since I had to finish last year's album in September :)

December Daily Day 13

I didn't get to add the journaling to this spread but Chris came home for lunch and we got had 3 ppl come in a row - one to jumpstart my car battery, then one to drop off Chris' new workout bench, then finally, the guy to deliver my lunch!!

This isn't my favorite layout, especially since I got stuck on what to do for the left side. I ended up just cutting out some snowflakes from POW Glitter paper.

The right side cards didn't leave much to have to do, so I just added the wood veneer 13 embossed with Silver Glitter Zing embossing powder and the little ribbon bow below.

Good thing this was quick so I didn't get behind too badly!

Sleep Tight

How cute are babies when they are swaddled!? I never really thought so until I looked at my baby girl all swaddled up, and especially with that hair!! She is too cute! Of course this picture is from about 2 weeks ago, when she liked to be swaddled... now at 3.5 weeks old she has already grown out of it and doesn't like it anymore haha!

I just loved this layout by Nicole Samuels, and scrap-lifted it pretty closely except with different papers etc.

I used the latest Studio Calico kit, Double Scoop and the newest stamp set, Cotton Candy! I embossed the diamond stamps in white Zing embossing powder then cut them out with scissors.

I made my own tag out of some large chevron patterned paper, cut out the two corners with my circle punch and added the circle sticker and twine from my stash. I didn't think I would, but I love the label set from Bananafish Studios (that smile tag is one of them) that came in this month's Studio Calico add-on, Sprinkles! I thought I would hate having to cut them out, but I actually like it better that I can see all of the labels and then only cut out the one(s) I want to use - plus I don't have a very high-quality printer to print the labels that nicely anyway.

Family Visit

The next day, after I had Natalie, we had our family come visit her in the hospital! She was so good for everyone, just slept and got passed around. She's still like that (even 2 weeks later haha), so good for our company!

I got the idea for this layout from Challenge 10 in the Stashbusters Anonymous class I'm taking at Big Picture Classes with Aly Dosdall - I just stamped a bunch of Amy Tangerine stamps on the center banner piece and embossed with White Zing embossing powder.

The background paper is from the Valley High kit by Studio Calico, and the label and title letters are from the Front Row kit. I wrote out my journaling, then cut it into strips to adhere underneath.

I didn't have to embellish much, since the stamps and the patterned paper really filled the page. Another quick and easy layout - I completed 2 layouts yesterday, wow!

Mothers Day cards and a Baby Shower card!

Yesterday was a near-perfect cardmaking day! The weather wasn't great, my friend was already planning to come over to scrap, and since it was the day before Mothers Day, we both had some cards to finish up! I made 2 Mothers Day cards and 1 baby shower card! For each of my cards, I used this month's kits by Studio Calico - I got the Scrapbook kit, Card kit, and Stamp kits this month!

For this first Mothers Day card, the idea just sort of came to me to use 3 tags and figure out the rest as I went along. I also decided to try one of the National Scrapbook Day challenges from Studio Calico to use 5 patterned papers - so keeping that in mind, I cut the tags from the Silhouette, and added the notebook paper to the left.

I was sort of stumped at that point for the 5th pattern, but punched some small hearts and sewed them down on each tag, added my sentiment and some twine and done!

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This next card is for my own Mom. I really loved the color combination and the knot used for this card!

For the middle part, I pulled out a sheet of Vintage paper, then stamped the frame in Hero Arts Neon Green and cut around it. I stamped the I Love You sentiment and embossed it with Silver Glitter Zing embossing powder and colored in the letters with Tim Holtz Blue Jeans ink mixed with water and a watercolor brush.

I cut 4 pieces of twine, three from the same pack of beige & gray hues and one piece from a coral color, then knotted them, after doing a Google search for Sailor's knot and looking at this idea.

The back of the stars were a little indented, so using my usual glue zots weren't working since I'd need to use about 3 or 4 each just to get them to stick out far enough to catch the paper. Pop dots were going to make them stick out too much. I asked my friend about my dilemma and she asked if I had a glue gun (which I don't) but that gave me the idea to use good old Glossy Accents! This was my favorite card I made out of the bunch, perfect for my Mom!

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Wow I actually had time to work on one more card - so I worked on a card for a baby shower for a friend at church that I am going to in a couple of weeks! She is having a girl and they are naming her Ezra!

I started by choosing some papers and embellishments I liked together - the gray card stock with the pink polka dots looked great, and I've been dying to use those candy striped buttons - they just look delicious! I had a leftover piece of vintage paper from the last card, so decided I could use that too!

I arranged how I wanted it and figure I'd use the middle space to add her name somewhere in big letters, so I grabbed those Heidi Swapp plastic letters from the Scrapbook kit - I loved how they still looked soft even though they were a different color. I added the extra lace trim, twine and cabochon and finished this last card very quickly! Out of all the cards I made, this one was Chris' favorite!

A Wedding Card

Our friends at church are getting married soon, so I made this card for their wedding!!

I got the latest Planetarium kit from Studio Calico in the mail yesterday and got working on this right away - this month I also purchased the card kit and card add-on kit since I knew I had a lot of cards to make coming up! With all the supplies, this card came together very quickly!

I stamped "Today" using the new stamps from the stamp add-on kit, and cut the "Enjoy" portion from an older SC stamp that said "Enjoy the Ride" - both embossed in Gold Glitter Zing embossing powder! I painted the chipboard star in the upper right with Green Gable Mister Huey's mist mixed with water to add some more of that sea-foamy color to the card. Love the colors of this month's kits!!

Turkey Run layout!

Wow, it took me till February to complete my first 12x12 layout of the year! In my defense though, I have been sick with morning sickness... cuz I'm PREGNANT! That's right! God has blessed me and my husband and I'm a little over 12 weeks into this thing! We got to hear the heartbeat again this morning, and that just never gets old :) So anyway, this layout has been on my table for going on 5 days now, because I seem to have morning sickness in the evenings these days... but it feels great to have one completed!

I had one more layout to do to finish up the Indiana trip last May to see my cousins. We went out one day to Turkey Run State Park to go on the trails we used to when we were much smaller... I believe the last visit was around 1994, while my Dad was still with us. My parents and my Dad's sisters and brother and their families - we all stayed overnight and ran around the trails and had a blast!!

The idea for this layout came together quickly, from the first challenge for the Studio Calico online class I'm taking this month, Bright Ideas with Nicole Samuels! Our first challenge from Amy Tan was to use a stencil - so I cut the Turkey Run title with my Silhouette, and at first used it as a misting mask. But my misting went awry... my bottles were clogged and I got more mist on my hands than the page... so plan B! I used the mask to color in the area with my Zig emboss pen and embossed with Gold glitter Zing embossing powder! Then because of the gold, I wanted to add a little more so I hand stitched around each triangle with gold thread (that part took the longest).

I'm excited to get some more 12x12 layouts done this month, especially once my nausea subsides, which will hopefully be within the next couple of weeks! Loving the class so far too :)

A Christmas Card

It's almost Christmas! The time of year to celebrate the birth of Jesus, Immanuel - God with us! Jesus was the ultimate saver, giver, and healer! I made this card for a woman staying at the Bethany House along with a box of items she might need. So hopefully they will help her in some way, and she will feel the love of Christ.

The only thing I knew I wanted to do for this card was use my manger scene stamp from Hero Arts, so I embossed in gold glitter Zing! embossing powder by American Crafts, which looks even more glittery depending how the light hits it.

The papers were from the 34th Street kit by Studio Calico, including that wonderful piece of gold POW paper. The letters were from the Darling Dear collection also by Studio Calico - and I gotta say, I am a big fan of these! They are small enough to fit on a card or fit a bunch of words on a layout, but they really stand out all on their own!

I hope this holiday season brings you blessings and joy!!

Lotsa Birthday cards

We had a family get together where 4 of our family members have January birthdays... luckily two of them are my parents, so I know they don't mind if I give them a combined card, hence you see 3 cards :)

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This first card was for my niece, and at first I made it using the watercolor technique I had used in the past but without the right watercolor paper, it was annoying me how it curled up and didn't blend that great... ok so scrapped that and just used your typical dry technique - using a Tim Holtz inker with blending foam. It was nice to use the butterfly misting masks while I inked so it left those spots blank, then later embossed some butterfly stamps there.

HOW-TO:

• Used regular drawing paper to ink on, so it would blend well
• Tim Holtz inks: peeled paint, broken china and faded jeans with blending foam
• Studio Calico butterfly misting masks, butterfly stamps and sentiment stamps
• Embossing powder by American Crafts in: Aqua, Wave and Leaf

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For the second card, I wanted to make it look like a book because we were giving my stepsister a gift card for Amazon for her Kindle. I loved how it turned out and I used my Zig embossing pen to write her name in cursive and emboss it with gold powder.

HOW-TO:

• The reddish-orange paper for the "binding" was by DCWV, which I cut to 2 inch width, then wrapped around the edge of the Kraft paper, so the back side had some showing too and looked like binding rather than a cut strip of paper
• The middle embellishment was cut on my Cricut Imagine using the Reminisce Accents cartridge by Creative Memories and Provo Craft
• The letter stickers are by My Mind's Eye
• I used the Zig embossing pen to write her name and embossed with gold embossing powder from Martha Stewart Crafts

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The last card was for my parents, and basically just did the easy way of making this flower embellishment again.

HOW-TO:

• The hard and easy tutorial for making the large embellishment is in this earlier blog entry of mine
• I embossed around the embellishment with the Zig embossing pen and the sentiment stamp from Recollections with Copper embossing powder from Martha Stewart Crafts
• The button is from the Lost & Found collection by My Mind's Eye
• The twine is from Jillibean Soup